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Faces Have Recorded Songs For Potential Reunion Album

[Note: This 2025 story updates our previous item from 2022.] Faces members Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones have recorded new songs with the possibility of a studio album coming in 2026. The news comes once again from Jones via a new interview that appeared in the April 21, 2025, edition of The Telegraph [sign-up required]. The three have shared the stage numerous times since Faces called it quits well over 40 years ago. But this time, and despite Wood’s role as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975 and Stewart’s still significant solo career, the British music legends are trying to give it a go. They collaborated on a big 2024 box set (see below).

In the latest interview, Jones said the trio have recorded “about 11 tracks” at a North London studio. “Not all of them are going to be right [for an album],” he said. “But most of them are good.”

 

Jones added, “I can see it coming out next year [2026],” explaining, “everyone’s doing different things. We do little snippets here and there.” He acknowledged that his more famous bandmates are committed to their significant careers, Wood with the Stones and Stewart with his busy tour schedule and occasional solo recordings.

In a September 5, 2021 interview with Contact Music, the drummer said they had recorded 14 songs. In the interview, Jones described the new recordings as “a mixture of stuff we never released which is worthy of releasing and there’s some new stuff which is really wonderful. Rod is writing the lyrics and he’s really keen on it.”

In an interview with Uncut that appeared in January 2022, Jones offered an update. “What we’ve decided to do is work on some of the original stuff that we didn’t use, so the album is going to be a mixture of old and new,” he said. “The songs we’ve been revisiting are from right across the board. It’s very difficult to go into specifics, because many of them didn’t even have titles. Ronnie and I, in particular, have been working on lots of the old stuff together and we’ve re-recorded a couple of those songs with a more modern feel. . . The new songs are coming along, too. We’re definitely going in the right direction.”

 

When pressed further, Jones said, “I don’t want to give away too much at this point, but there will be some special guests on there with us. We’ve already done a few overdub sessions with some well known people, which will remain a trade secret for the moment.”

 

Jones wouldn’t commit to a full tour. “Whether or not we’re going to go on a big extended tour remains to be seen,” he told Contact Music. “What we have decided is to do some really big gigs like [London’s] The O2, [New York’s] Madison Square Garden, some other big venues in America.”

 

Several years came and went with no additional news. Jones had many dates with The Jones Gang. Stewart’s 2025 touring calendar is already very full. As of mid-April, the Rolling Stones have not announced any tour plans.

Faces formed in 1969 from the ashes of Small Faces, with Jones, and his Small Faces bandmates Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan, joined by Stewart and Wood. (Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott departed to form Humble Pie.) They recorded four studio albums and scored a hit with the classic rock song “Stay With Me.” Stewart had also signed a solo recording contract and was frequently joined by his Faces bandmates.

By the mid-Seventies, the group was essentially done. Stewart’s solo career took off. Wood joined the Stones after Mick Taylor departed. And Jones joined The Who following Keith Moon’s death.

Stewart, Wood and Jones have performed together on occasion. Best Classic Bands was there in 2015 when they played seven songs for a benefit concert. Lane, who suffered from multiple sclerosis for decades, passed on June 4, 1997. McLagan died on Dec. 3, 2014. Stewart turned 80 on Jan. 10. Wood turns 78 on June 1. Jones turns 77 on Sept. 16.

Jones told Uncut, “The Faces never finished on a good note. So, it’d be good to finish on a good note and that would be that.”

Stewart, Wood and Jones shared the stage at the BRIT Awards on Feb. 18, 2020, at The O2 to perform “Stay With Me,” accompanied by an orchestra.

 

In 2024, a comprehensive box set arrived that compiled all of Faces’ BBC concerts and surviving studio sessions. The collection – much of it previously unreleased – was remastered with the full participation of Stewart, Wood, and Jones. The 9-disc set (8-CDs/1-Blu-ray), Faces At The BBC — Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973, is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

They are the subject of a 2023 book, Tell Everyone – A People’s History of the Faces, that tells their story in the words of over 500 fans. It’s available for order in the U.S. here and the U.K. here.

Robin Trower is Busy at 80 in 2025: Tour, Expanded Classic LPs

It’s a busy year for Robin Trower. He recently added nearly two dozen concerts for a 2025 summer tour of the U.S. (Those dates follow a series of U.K. concerts in May. Tickets for all shows are available here and here.) The guitar legend recently completed a brief winter run in February-March that was rescheduled from 2024 following a “major operation” that he had over that summer. He had canceled those shows last June citing ongoing health issues. In that June 3, 2024, post on his Facebook page, the guitarist, who turned 80 this past March 9, revealed that he had been hospitalized in spring 2024. He said at the time, “My doctor advised me that the only possible way for an effective solution is to undertake a major operation as soon as possible.

And in mid-April, the news arrived of a 50th anniversary edition of his third studio album, For Earth Below. The original 1975 release reached #5 on the Billboard chart, the second of four consecutive Gold albums, further cementing Trower’s profile as a major league solo artist. The newly expanded edition, coming June 27, features the album newly remastered at AIR studios, a newly unearthed extended stereo mix of the entire record, a disc of outtakes, rarities and BBC sessions with the majority previously unreleased and a newly mixed concert taped live in Los Angeles from the “For Earth Below” tour, never available in its entirety before.

 

For Earth Below followed hot on the heels of its impressive predecessor Bridge of Sighs which had wowed audiences and critics upon its release in 1974. [That title received its own expanded edition in 2024; see below.] Trower was at the very top of his game as he entered the studio to make For Earth Below and with this album came a key personnel change. Following the exit of Reg Isadore, Trower recruited drummer Bill Lordan who was schooled in r&b and funk and in Trower’s own words “brought a new dimension” to his lineup, providing the perfect platform for Trower’s guitar virtuosity adorned by the unmistakable vocals and bass of James Dewar. [The 50th anniversary edition of For Earth Below is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]

Says Lordan, “Robin, James and I had a magical chemistry instantly. It was like we had always played together and the music just flowed naturally. I always wanted to play with a blues-rock three-piece band.”

 

“I have also been advised that the recovery time to 100% full fitness could take a while,” Trower wrote in June 2024. “This makes committing to a fixed touring period in the near future impossible. I have struggled with this decision but realize I cannot continue touring at this time.

 

“I am very hopeful that this procedure will give me a new lease of life,” he wrote, “and I can return to doing what I love the most: playing live. I look forward to catching up with you all as soon as I am able.”

 

Over the summer, he wrote, “I would like to thank everyone for the very kind and positive messages… I went in and came out through the other side and am recovering well. Now I’m looking forward to getting going and to start playing live again.”

Robin Trower 2025 Tour (Tickets are available here and here)
May 14 – Buxton, UK – Buxton Opera House
May 15 – Glasgow, UK – Oran Mor
May 17 – Holmfirth, UK – Picturedrome
May 18 – Birmingham, UK – Birmingham Town Hall
May 20 – Frome, UK – Cheese and Grain
May 21 – London, UK – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Jun 11 – Richmond, VA – The National
Jun 13 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
Jun 14 – Atlantic City, NJ – Music Box at the Borgata
Jun 15 – Glenside, PA – The Keswick Theatre
Jun 17 – Red Bank, NJ – Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at Count Basie Center
Jun 18 – Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theatre
Jun 20 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount
Jun 21 – Poughkeepsie, NY – Bardavon
Jun 24 – Derry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
Jun 25 – Boston, MA – The Wilbur
Jun 27 – Portland, ME – Aura
Jun 28 – Salisbury, MA – Blue Ocean Music Hall
Jul 01 – Homer, NY – Center for the Arts
Jul 02 – Buffalo, NY – Babeville
Jul 03 – Greensburg, PA – Palace Theatre
Jul 05 – Northfield, OH – MGM Northfield Park Center Stage
Jul 06 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
Jul 08 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
Jul 10 – Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center
Jul 11 – Chicago, IL – Copernicus Center
Jul 12 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
Jul 14 – Des Moines, IA – Hoyt Sherman Place
Jul 16 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
Jul 17 – Springfield, MO – Gillioz Theatre
Jul 19 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory

The upgraded 50th anniversary edition of the guitarist’s acclaimed release includes a 2024 remaster, an unedited stereo mix, outtakes, rarities and live recordings. It arrived June 7 as a 3-CD/1-Blu-ray set (with a Dolby ATMOS mix) and as a 2-LP edition on 180g vinyl, via Chrysalis. It’s available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. As Trower, himself, remarked, “Incredibly, Bridge of Sighs never made the British chart but spent over five months on the U.S. chart, reaching #7.”

From the album announcement: Following his departure from 1960s baroque rockers Procol Harum, the gifted guitarist set sail on forging a solo career and in doing so assembled a new band bringing in James Dewar on vocal and bass duty, and Reg Isidore on drums. The new power trio set the tone on Trower’s 1973 solo debut solo, Twice Removed From Yesterday, but it was the follow up, Bridge of Sighs, that would catapult Trower into an international guitar hero.

Recoded in just over two weeks at Olympic and Air Studios in London under the auspices of Trower’s former Procol bandmate, producer Matthew Fisher, Bridge of Sighs also benefited greatly from the presence of famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick who brought with him a whole array of recording techniques that greatly inspired Trower. “He came up with a way of recording the guitar I don’t think had been done before,” Trower says. “It was a big room and he had one mic in close, one mic set in the middle distance, and one mic set fifteen feet away to get the sound of the room. That was a very big factor in how the song and the whole album sounds.”

Bridge of Sighs features some mesmerizing guitar work from Trower. The title track and gems such as “Day of the Eagle,” “Too Rolling Stoned,” “In This Place,” “Little Bit of Sympathy” and “Lady Love.” Toto’s Steve Lukather says, “In 1974, I got the album and it blew my mind. I was devouring everything guitar based as I was an up-and coming player, and the sound of Robin’s guitar hit my soul. The tone-touch and feel was so incredible.”

Critically applauded upon release, Bridge of Sighs became a radio staple in the U.S., where the album reached #7, and helped establish Trower, born March 9, 1945, as one of the big touring attractions of the mid-‘70s.

 

50 years later, the recordings have been newly mixed from the original tapes. The package includes a 24-page booklet featuring newly written liner notes by David Sinclair, newly conducted interviews with Trower and Fisher and testimonials by Bryan Ferry, Robert Fripp, Lukather, Clive Bunker, Andy Parker and album cover designer Paul Olsen, all alongside previously unseen photographs.

Robin Trower Bridge of Sighs 50th Anniversary Edition (Click here for the track listing)
Disc 1: Bridge of Sighs 2024 Remaster
Disc 2: Bridge of Sighs 2024 Stereo Mix + Outtakes & Rarities
Disc 3: Live at The Record Plant, Sausalito, May 29, 1974
Disc 4: Blu-Ray: 2024 Remaster | 2024 Stereo Mix | Atmos | 5.1 | Stereo album instrumentals | Outtakes & Rarities | Live at Record Plant, Sausalito, May 29, 1974

Frank Zappa’s Unaired 1974 TV Special Is Finally Getting Released

A previously unaired Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention television special from 1974 is finally being released after sitting in the late artist’s vaults for more than 50 years.

The two-hour concert film and companion live album, Cheaper Than Cheep, will be available on May 9 in a CD and Blu-ray set and on vinyl.

Zappa and the band invited fans to their rehearsal space in Hollywood on June 21, 1974, to watch them perform for more than two hours. A crew shot the performance, but after it was completed, Zappa discovered that the film and sound didn’t line up, so he scrapped the project.

 

In its place, The Dub Room Special, which was made with a Los Angeles PBS station, aired, while Zappa’s original TV special, the one he wanted to release, sat untouched for the past five decades.

Zappa greeted the audience that night with, “We’d like to welcome you to the world’s cheapest television special, which is being manufactured for your edification right here in the midst of our Mothers of Invention rehearsal hall at 5831 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California.”

“Can you all turn around and look at each other so everybody who’s watching this can tell where we are and what the inside of this place really looks like? As you can see, it’s cheaper than cheap.”

What’s on Frank Zappa’s ‘Cheaper Than Cheep’?

Along with a new lineup of the Mothers of Invention – which in summer 1974 included drummer Chester Thompson, keyboardist George Duke, guitarist Jeff Simmons, saxophone and flute player Napoleon Murphy Brock, percussionist Ruth Underwood and bassist Tom Fowler – the bandleader covered many Zappa favorites “Cosmik Debris,” “Montana,” “Wowie Zowie” and “Dupree’s Paradise,” all featured in their live shows at the time.

Featured alongside the music are segments by artist Cal Schenkel, who was responsible for many of Zappa’s album covers, and Claymation animator and director Bruce Bickford, a frequent Zappa collaborator.

In addition to the film and soundtrack album, the CD includes four bonus excerpts and outtakes. You can see the track listing for the Super Deluxe box set below.

Cheaper Than Cheep will be available exclusively on Zappa’s website and can be preordered now.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, ‘Cheaper Than Cheep’ Super Deluxe Box Set Track Listing
CD1:
1. “Cheaper Than Cheep”
2. “Cosmik Debris”
3. “Band Introductions”
4. “RDNZL”
5. “Village of the Sun”
6. “Montana”
7. “Duke Goes Out”
8. “Inca Roads”
9. “Get Down Simmons”
10. “Penguin In Bondage”
11. “T’Mershi Duween”
12. “The Dog Breath Variations”
13. “Uncle Meat”

CD2:
1. “How Could I Be Such a Fool”
2. “I’m Not Satisfied”
3. “Wowie Zowie”
4. “I Don’t Even Care”
5. “Let’s Make The Water Turn Black”
6. “Dupree’s Paradise Introduction”
7. “Dupree’s Paradise”
8. “Oh No”
9. “Son of Orange County”
10. “More Trouble Every Day”
11. “Apostrophe'”
12. “Camarillo Brillo 5:53”

Disc 3: Blu-ray
Audio: Dolby Atmos (48k24b) / Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (96k24b) / PCM Stereo (96k24b)
1. “Intro / Cheepnis – Percussion / Cheaper Than Cheep”
2. “Cosmik Debris”
3. “Band Introductions”
4. “RDNZL”
5. “Village of the Sun”
6. “Montana”
7. “Duke Goes Out”
8. “A Visit to the Art Studio”
9. “Inca Roads”
10. “Get Down Simmons”
11. “Penguin In Bondage”
12. “T’Mershi Duween”
13. “The Dog Breath Variations”
14. “Uncle Meat”
15. “How Could I Be Such a Fool”
16. “I’m Not Satisfied”
17. “Wowie Zowie”
18. “I Don’t Even Care”
19. “Let’s Make The Water Turn Black”
20. “Dupree’s Paradise Introduction”
21. “Dupree’s Paradise”
22. “Oh No”
23. “Son of Orange County”
24. “More Trouble Every Day”
25. “Apostrophe'”
26. “Camarillo Brillo”

Bonus
1. “Time Is Money (excerpt)”
2. “Echidna’s Arf (Of You) – Incomplete”
3. “Art Studio Outtakes”
4. “The Amazing Mr. Bickford (excerpt)”

Frank Zappa Albums Ranked
Navigating his extensive catalog, including releases with the Mothers of Invention, can be tricky. But don’t worry – we did the heavy work.

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